The King Is Dead ! (Isn’t He?)

Elvis Presley died 10 years ago last month . . . or did he ? Some of his aging but still implacably loyal fans apparently really believe that, as a big-selling T-shirt has it, THE KING LIVES! Pick up one of those papers at the supermarket that carry stories you will never read anywhere else and you’re likely to find eyewitness reports that Elvis was seen at a fast-food joint in Fargo, getting his car washed in Mobile or installing aluminum gutters and downspouts in Walla Walla. One hustler is even marketing a tape of a recent telephone interview with Elvis; let the skeptics scoff at that . Meanwhile, a host of impersonators works to keep the legend alive. Ah, but what if one of these imitators was in fact the real thing ? Show biz has seen its share of dramatic comebacks; this one would be the socko return of all time.

The question, as it happens, is a matter of philatelic as well as academic interest. A U.S. Postal Service rule says that, except for ex-Presidents, anyone honored on a postage stamp must have been dead for at least a decade. Some Presley fans say that the time has come to commemorate their idol. An anti-Presley faction argues that it would be absurd to accord Elvis the same honor given such musical giants as George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Igor Stravinsky. Caught in this crossfire, Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank has taken refuge in the strict constructionist position. A stamp honoree, he says, has to be not just dead but “ demonstrably dead” for 10 years. With that qualification in mind, foes of a Presley stamp will no doubt now happily join the chorus of those proclaiming that, yes, indeed, the King still lives.